Doug Sanders used to have followers. Men admired Sanders, thegolfer who dressed like a rainbow and often played like a dream,for winning 20 Tour titles between 1956 and 1972. Women admiredhim too and followed golf's leading hedonist on and off thecourse from Scotland to Augusta to Las Vegas, where the mancalled Peacock partied with his drinking buddies Frank Sinatraand Dean Martin. "It was what every man dreams of: fun, beer andpretty women," he says.

Today Sanders, 64, lives alone and waits for the phone to ring."I want to play," he says. "I've been asking for sponsors'exemptions, but everyone turns me down." A player of Sanders'sstature, with 154 top 10 finishes and 20 wins, might expect tobe welcomed back, yet his colorful past keeps shadowing him.

Before he wore ruby spikes, he ran barefoot in Polk County, Ga.,whose prime exports included whiskey and fire-breathingreligion. Sanders reached the PGA Tour in 1957 and lived what henow calls a "sinful" life as he flirted with golf greatness. Atthe 1970 British Open at St. Andrews he had a two-foot putt onthe final hole to beat Jack Nicklaus. He missed it, then lost ina playoff. Some say Sanders never recovered from that defeat,but as rumors of drunken binges as well as sexual and financialexcesses dogged his heels, he kept playing life fast and loose.After joining the Senior tour in 1983, he became host of theDoug Sanders Celebrity Classic, but the event collapsed fouryears ago amid charges that he had looted tournament coffers forhis personal use--charges he denies.

"There's no halo over my head," Sanders admits, "but I haveturned my life around. I haven't drunk a drop since Aug. 28,1993." He says he became a born-again Christian in 1995, a timewhen he was bedeviled by a painful twitch that nearly drove himcrazy. His head and hands would spontaneously jerk sideways. Onthe course he bit down on his collar to keep his head steadywhen he swung. He hoped for a miracle but got a diagnosisinstead: He had torticollis, a rare muscle disorder.

"I didn't party anymore, couldn't play golf, couldn't get awayfrom the pain. I'll admit it, I thought about suicide," he says.Finally he flew to Montreal to endure a risky seven-houroperation. "My heart stopped when I was on the operating table,"he says. Doctors resuscitated him--his miracle, as Sanders seesit--and after two days in a coma he woke. The twitch was gone.

During his recovery, Sanders shrank to 135 pounds. Now up to177, he recently returned to the 18th green at St. Andrews tomake peace with the putt he blew three decades ago. Last monthhe took 15 sweaters and 23 pairs of shoes to the three-dayLegends of Golf, where he teamed with Tommy Armour to win $12,000.

In seeking sponsors' exemptions to Senior events, Sanders isasking for pro golf's version of charity. "I deserve it. Ihelped found this tour," he says. "God gave me another chance tolive. Now I hope somebody gives me a chance to play golf."

In the LoopCADDIES HOWL, GROWL, PROWL

Two weeks ago at Bay Hill, caddies seethed when the Tourproposed a caddie dress code. "It's another example of theTour's f--- the caddies mentality," said one looper. Open revoltwas averted when the Tour withdrew the idea, and last week atthe Players Championship, for the first time, a PGA Tourcommissioner addressed a caddies' meeting. Tim Finchem assuredFluff Cowan & Co. that while caddies have no pension or medicalbenefits, no access to players' locker rooms and may have to usepublic Port-o-Lets on the job, "we consider you an importantpart of the Tour." The matter of the caddies' lunch wagon, whichthe Tour no longer wants to fund at $130,000 per year, was tabled.

Caddying is a growth industry. Several bagmen earn six figuresper year; Cowan makes TV commercials and instructional videos.But not every caddie is smiling. Last week Wayne Grady's looper,Patrick Fitzgerald, was jailed for soliciting sex from anundercover cop, and Dennis Turning, John Cook's caddie, wasarrested for cocaine possession and "misdemeanor prowling."

THE SHAG BAG

Giving Tiger Pause: Gary Player relishes the thought of a TigerWoods-Ernie Els rivalry that could last for decades. "Tiger'sfull swing is more impressive, but Ernie is far better from 100yards in. His wedges, bunker shots, putting and chipping are allbetter" says Player, whose nine major titles are six more thanWoods and Els's combined total. "And perhaps there's anotherdifference: Tiger will live under enormous pressure as acelebrity in America. Ernie's life might be easier."

Golf Outing: The game still isn't an Olympic sport, but it willbe part of the Gay Games in 2002.

When Harry Met Reality: Harry Toscano's $9 million antitrustsuit against the Senior tour hit a speed bump last week.Toscano, who claims there is a conspiracy to keep little-knownplayers like him off the tour, wants bigger fields and a 36-holecut at Senior events, but a federal judge in Ponte Vedra Beach,Fla., denied his request for an injunction, allowing the tour tokeep Arnold Palmer and Chi Chi Rodriguez playing on Sunday evenif they're nowhere near the lead. Chalk one up for thenostalgia-first theory of Senior golf.

No-Go Golf: According to Frank Nobilo (left), slow play at thePlayers was due to the pros' skill: "Nobody wants to see scoresof 62 and 63, so they make courses tougher and tougher. Theby-product--a round takes time. You can't go quicker or you'llmake mistakes."

How It Hangs: Take 2 1/2 yards of a green 55%-45% blend ofpolyester and wool. Add a rayon lining, brass buttons emblazonedANGC and a golfer's name hand-stitched inside. What you get is asingle-breasted blazer made by Hamilton Tailoring of Cincinnati.Every Masters winner takes such a jacket home but must return itto Augusta National a year later. There the jackets are storedin cedar closets with those of club members. Each Masters Sundaya gofer grabs one of the members' jackets for the ceremony atButler Cabin. Often it doesn't fit--the sleeves of JackNicklaus's ceremonial jacket in 1963 covered his hands--but soonthe new champ's measurements are morphed into a permanentaddition to the Augusta collection.

One for the Ages: At last month's Legends of Golf, Paul Runyan,89, lamented his game. "I'm a proud man. I like to think I'm thebest 89-year-old golfer in the world," said Runyan, who won twoPGA Championships. "I didn't play like it here. I just got inpeople's way." Runyan frets that he can no longer play quicklyenough to keep up with Senior players who are 20 or 25 yearsyounger, "but it's hard to quit when the game is in your blood.I never got past eighth grade, but I've seen the world. I've metkings, paupers, gamblers and Capone mobsters. I've lived well,and golf was the reason."

OFF COURSE

Where Magnolia Lane Meets Memory Lane

Ladies and gentlemen, start your televisions. If you admireclassic pars, take a spin through historic Augusta this week asthe Classic Sports Network and the Golf Channel take you on anAmen Corner-hugging tour of Masters highlights. At 1 p.m. onSunday, Classic Sports will air more than nine hours ofhighlights, from Arnold Palmer's 1960 triumph to Tiger Woods's'97 coronation. The Golf Channel revs up a night earlier byshowing classic masters victories, starting at 8 p.m. with BenCrenshaw's '95 win. At 10:30 p.m. it's retro-Ben, as the GolfChannel revisits Crenshaw's win in '84. The cable channel'sAugustafest will roll on to celebrate champs from A to Z. Wantmore? On Monday at 8 p.m. the Golf Channel presents a special onWoods, and on Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. there's something unexpectedon the menu, Profiles of a Pro with Fuzzy Zoeller.

FlashbackSalute to a Fast-Rising Major

Ten years ago Scottsdale, Ariz., developer Lyle Anderson foundeda Senior tour event out of thin desert air. Calling histournament The Tradition at Desert Mountain, Anderson made hisplans clear from the get-go. "I doubt we'll achieve what theMasters has," he said, "but there is no reason we can't evolveinto a major championship on the Senior tour." Only four yearslater, then commissioner Deane Beman announced that TheTradition, along with the PGA Seniors Championship, the SeniorPlayers Championship and the U.S. Senior Open, was indeed one ofSenior golf's four majors. The 6,972-yard CochiseCourse--"magnificent," Lee Trevino calls it--had alreadyachieved Grand Slam status, and the tournament's $1.4 millionpurse is one of the Senior tour's richest. Anderson's baby grewup in a hurry.